What Basketball is All About"
| The Game | The Ball | The Hoop |
The Game
Basketball is deeply ingrained in our childhood, our play, in our culture and dreams.
Rich or poor, unknown or famous, young or old, we all love this game.
“There was a park near my house, if my parents wanted me they knew where to look first.”
“When you are on the basketball court, nothing else in the world matters.”
“If you can dream it, you can achieve it!”
The Ball
“When I first picked up a basketball, it was love at first sight.”
“My basketball is an extension of me wherever I go. I even take my basketball to bed with me.”
“At a young age, my father would take me to his recreation games. During the pre-game warm-ups, halftime, timeouts, and after the game, I would run out on the court and shoot my basketball until play resumed.”
“There was a basket on my garage. My parents would have to make me come in and go to bed because I would shoot my basketball even in the dark.”
About the Ball
The first basketball games were played with soccer balls. However, they proved to be unsuitable for dribbling and ball handling.
The first manufactured basketballs were hard to dribble because of their laces and slick leather. Basketballs were later redesigned to concealed the laces which eliminated erratic bounces.
Today's basketballs are without laces. They are molded with pebble surfaces making them much easier to handle.
The American Basketball Association, played with a red, white and blue basketball, was the first to use contrasting color panels. It was often referred to as a “Beach Ball.” Today, both the WNBA and FIBA (International basketball) use contrasting color panels..
By rule, the men's ball is 29 1/2 inches in circumference and the women's ball is an inch smaller at 28 1/2 inches.
Internationally, the men’s ball that is used for the Olympic games, has a circumference of 30.7” which is larger than the men’s regulation ball of 29.5”.
Basketball Inflation
The amount of air in a basketball determines the height of the bounce. An under inflated ball is hard to dribble since it has a low bounce. An over inflated basketball will create too high of a bounce.
The proper amount of inflation is determined by the height of the bounce. The rule of thumb is that a basketball should bounce to half the height from which it is dropped. When dropped from a height of 6 feet, the bounce height should be 3 feet (half way up).
The Hoop
You can find basketball hoops just about anywhere you look.
On Garages
In Driveways
On Playgrounds
Around Pools
On Trees
On Swings
On Barns
In Barns
In Fields
On Glaciers
On Roof Tops
On Piers
Aboard Ships
On Aircraft Carriers
In Large Arenas
In Football Stadiums
About the Hoop
Originally, the game was played with peach baskets or 18” square boxes hung from the balconies of the running tracks of most indoor facilities. At this time the basket height was established at 10 feet, which still stands today. Obviously, the peach baskets and boxes slowed the game down since the ball had to be retrieved after every goal either by someone on the running track or by ladder. The peach baskets were replaced first by heavy woven wire rims and later by cast iron rims.
Open ended nylon nets were approved for use in 1912. This was a major milestone for basketball since the free falling ball after a made basket dramatically increased tempo and scoring of the game. .
Basketball rims today, on all levels, are the same 18 inches in diameter. This diameter is larger than two regulation women’s balls, and slightly, smaller than two men’s balls.
Regulation backboards today are 6 feet wide by three and half feet tall made of tempered glass. The inner rectangle shooting guide on the backboard is 24 inches wide by 18 inches tall with the white lines being 2 inches thick.
The distance from the top of the rim to the floor is 10’. The distance from the free throw line to the front of the backboard is 15’, and the distance from the font of the backboard to the baseline is 4’.
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